I read the post from this past spring regarding birds not taking too quickly to the humzingers. I've recently acquired a couple of them and am experiencing this same phenomena. I've been moving them and exchanging them with feeders that were being used but still no hits.

My question is: Is the solution level critical? Will a hummer dip down to the bottom to drink from 4 ounces of solution in a 12 oz feeder? My concern with this design is that it seems to require so much solution. I typically fill an 8 oz PerkyPet 4 fountain feeder with no more than 2 oz, just enough to see the solution in the bottle. I have one 8 oz and one 12 oz humzinger feeder.

The owner of the store that sells these locally is going to be bringing a group of his customers to my yard later this year to see my hummingbirds. It would be nice if some of the hummers were feeding from the feeders he sells rather than all of them feeding at the cheap ones from his competition.

Thanks,

Steve

Steve Backes
Valrico, FL (east of Tampa)
http://mysite.verizon.net/resu64md/yardhummers/
http://floridahummingbirds.net/
http://floridahummingbirds.proboards.com/

Steve why a hummingbird selects one feeder over another I do not have a clue. One thing for sure around my house the solution level does not make a dab of difference. I have not had good experience with the hummzingers. The perky pet remains a favorite here but that is not how it is with everyone else.

Dianne
Southeast Alabama
Heat Zone 8
Sunset Zone 31

Hello Steve,

The favorite feeder here is by far the one that I post with the videos. We have 2 of them...one on our porch and one in our patio garden...


All but one of the others are secondary in comparison. We have 2 Hummzinger feeders. This one is used often...
http://www.hummzinger.biz/mini.htm
Here's a pic of it being used in our yard...


This one still has yet to be used...which is the ONLY feeder that none of the hummers here have used. In my opinion, this is the only feeder I don't recommend!
http://www.hummzinger.biz/little-fancy.htm
I may try and glue on plastic flowers where the holes are next year to experiment to see if that changes anything. I'm only guessing, but I think the reflection of this transparent bright red plastic the top is made of that makes it difficult for the hummers to see the holes of entry. I have seen a couple of hummers hover around it to find and opening and they give up and move on to one of the other feeders.

We have 2 of these from the Dr JB's that are used often...
http://www.drjbs.com/
Here's a pic from our bedroom window looking west...


And I bought this copper one from QVC 3 years ago the hummers enjoy...


And we have 2 of these...one on the porch and one we can see from our bedroom window looking east...
This pic is the one hanging from the overhang on our porch...


And we have 2 of these saucers hanging from our porch overhang...


And then there is the Wally feeder. I still have yet to go through hundreds of pics yet. This pic is terrible, but it shows it's being used...and quite often. I just haven't gone through many pics with a hummer using it yet, but at least this shows a hummer using it. Unless I sit on the patio, it's hard to get a pic of a hummer using this one due to the angle it is in from where our library room window is...lots of reflection from the sun...


Hope that helps

Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

And here's a pic with our jewel box window feeder being used. Funny, this is made out of the same transparent bright red plastic on the top, but notice where the perch is in relation to the holes...much more ergonomic for them.

I found this video of the hummzinger feeders. At about the 3:30 time mark, Notice that the hummer has difficulty using the ports to feed while trying to stay perched. This is the larger version of the same one we have that the hummers don't use.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb6fmHbJ5to

Now I know hummers feed when they fly, and that is what they do naturally...but unfortunately when some feeders are made, I don't think manufacturers take the "angle" of the hole/port from where they perch into consideration...which is probably why a $ 0.99 is used a lot with no perches...or any other feeder with no perches, and the ones with perches that are used often...like the 1st pic in my previous post. The proportions/angles of the ports/holes in relation to the perches are very good/comfortable for the hummers. Some of the other feeders aren't perfect that we have, but at least I don't see the hummers struggle at all. I am not an expert. I'm basing everything on my husband's and my observations over the past 2-3 years.


Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

Susan Louise,

I think you're right on the money that angle and proportion make a difference with feeders; one problem that manufacturers face, however, is that there's considerable variance between the smallest and largest hummingbirds in the United States (not to mention those in other countries, although feeder sales are obviously far lower in most other places).

While we don't take total length of the bird (tip of bill to tip of tail) measurements as part of the standard banding measurements, we do measure the length of the bill (technically, the "exposed culmen" for the scientifically inclined) as well as the length of the length of the wing as folded against the body (the "wing chord") and the tail. On a Calliope Hummingbird, the smallest in the U.S. and a breeding bird in the mountains of the west, the bill is usually between 14 and 15 millimeters long. On a Black-chinned female, it's not uncommon to have a bill that's 20-21mm long, and a Buffy can have one even longer. A female Magnificent, one of the birds of the southwest Arizona mountains, can range up to 32mm, or more than twice as long as a Calliope.

Even among the middle-sized birds most common in the U.S., an Anna's will be somewhat bigger than a Black-chinned or Ruby-throat.

So it's hard for a manufacturer to scale the relationship between feeding port and perch for optimum comfort. I've sometimes wondered if the preponderance of "Best-1" type feeders in the southwest is due more to sales effort and availability or success with the slightly larger birds.

Then again, the 4-Fountains type feeder was the first widely distributed feeder in the east, the one Ruby-throats come in contact with most often and seem to use readily, but it's also popular with birds up to the size of Baltimore Orioles. So go figure.

Kevin Morgan
Baton Rouge, LA

Susan, you are the first person I know of who has my feeder. It is the last saucer feeder in your list of photos, the one with the hummer's back facing the camera. It has worked fairly well for me during this first season of hummer-feeding. However, the color has slowly been turning a dull purple. Also, my use of very hot water to rinse the feeder earlier in summer has apparently caused the red/purple plastic cover to thin and now there are clear spots all over it.

I still don't know what I'm going to do for a second feeder next year. I was going to get a hummzinger mini, but then I became concerned some hummers may not be able to comfortably reach the nectar if there are only a couple ounces at the bottom of the basin, and also I'm a bit worried about tiny bugs getting through the larger holes of the HZ mini. I then was leaning toward just getting one of the cheapo $4 First Nature bottle feeders from Walmart because people seem to have success with them. However, if I go in this direction I'm concerned about not being able to see hummers on the far side of the feeder. I've had a hummer frequently using my feeder for a few days and he likes to perch on the far side. If I have a bottle feeder I may not even know he's there half the time. That may not be a big deal for a person who gets tons of hummers that mob their feeders, but for me each visit to my feeder is noteworthy and exciting. Next season I'm going to move the current saucer feeder to just outside my patio door/window, hanging it from the eave of the house. I'll then hang the new feeder(HZ mini or First Nature) from the tree, where my saucer feeder currently is. I have until April to decide on the new feeder.

Zone 5a
East-central Iowa

I have been thinking about this question of angle and proportion on feeders. I am well aware that I am a simple thinking person. I have no ambition to compete with those who are more learned than myself about hummingbird and plants. That said I have been thinking about the flowers the hummingbirds use for nectar. Just the configuration of the ones I have growing in my yard makes me wonder how in the world they ever manage to get to the sugary prize. One example is a bottlebrush bloom. The pictures posted here on this forum show hummingbirds getting in some mighty wierd positions to feed.

Oh well, I will just go back to watching the hummingbirds and grow flowers for them and keep using the feeders that work for me. Too old to worry about the deep stuff.

Dianne
Southeast Alabama
Heat Zone 8
Sunset Zone 31

Hello Dianne,

I totally agree with you...but, I don't want to put juice into feeders that the hummers won't use. So, like Steve, we have concerns about particular feeders for the same and different reasons. Personally, it's not that important what angle the hummers choose to be in to get the nectar from flowers or feeders. I just don't want to waste money and time on feeders they don't like or won't use. I was also curious as to the "why" as to hummers not using particular feeders and favoring others. I enjoy learning more about the hummers on every level

Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

Steve,

Humzinger is NOT a favorite in my backyard either. I wish it was as it is the easiest by far to clean and ideal for getting unobscured pictures. I think it may have something to do with "visability and Vulnerability". With taller feeders the hummers are blocked from view (somewhat) and may feel a sense of security not being out in the open. Even with the mini feeders they have one direction that they cannot be approached from. Maybe that is it, they like that they cannot be approached HEAD ON while at a taller cylander type feeder?



Dan,

That feeder in the picture IS a Humzinger I believe.

Pam NJ 6B

Hi Pam,

The feeder is the Audubon classic hummingbird feeder.

Zone 5a
East-central Iowa

Steve

I had this hummzinger ultra feeder earlier this summer as an experiment and the feeder is quite large and there is space between each port which may allow for them to be more comfortable sharing, but could they drink down to the last 4oz , I dont know. The problem I thought I had was the holes are too large and allowed hundreds of knats into the feeder. Was that a real problem, would it keep them from drinking or would they eat the knats?



here is the aspects jewelbox window feeder which I still have up but have never seen more than one on it, maybe because of the design.


Steve
Martinsville, In
Heat zone 6
Sunset zone 35

Maybe the old addage location, location, location still works. The first nature feature is in the same spot the ultra had been. What I really like about this video is in the last half you can actually see hummers on 4 feeders at the same time at one point near the end. Because of this it may be my fav of all time.





Steve
Martinsville, In
Heat zone 6
Sunset zone 35

Dan,

Oh ok, its the Audubon's version of the Humzinger.

Pam NJ 6B